Regulus Black: The Boy Who Regrets

Chapter Two

Regulus awoke and groggily looked at his surroundings. For a brief moment he wondered why he was not in his room, as he should be. Then the memories of the day before flooded his mind. He remembered the sorting and how terrifying the process was; suddenly having a voice inside your head that is not your own, telling you all of your strongest traits, determining where you will stay for the next seven years. He had been so conflicted, but in the end he felt it was best that he ended up in Slytherin. It meant he could stick to his decision to protect his brother for once. He sighed as he straightened his tie. He could not turn back now. He had to be strong if he wanted to prove himself useful. Not that his family or his brother would know what he had done, but it was about proving to himself that he could be useful. He was always the one who was protected, but now he would prove he could be the protector. He gathered up his belongings and headed towards the Great Hall for breakfast. On the way he ran into Alex who eagerly dragged him toward the Slytherin table. Alex was clearly a morning person. He was all smiles, chattering away about what he hoped the classes would be like. Regulus, on the other hand, was not a morning person. In fact, he despised mornings. But he liked Alex well enough, so he allowed Alex to drag him along and continue to chatter. With all this chatter about classes he began to wonder for himself what they would be like. His parents had had their own tales to tell of pranks pulled by foolish classmates and teachers who were dreadful. Regulus wondered just how much of those tales were true. From what the older students had said, Professor Binns was such a bore even the Ravenclaws could not stay awake in class. Many praised the Potions Master, who was also Slytherin Head of House. Regulus had not met him yet, but they would have Potions with Professor Slughorn this afternoon. He would finally get to see what all the hubbub was about. But for now he needed to focus on eating and waking up properly. As he sat there, the hall began filling up. The other Slytherins emerged from the dungeons, rather less cheerfully than Alex had, and took their places at the table. Most looked as cruel as their reputations, scowling into their morning meal as they glared around the table. Regulus was starting to wake up a bit more, feeling like himself again, and started properly observing people. The older Slytherins were particularly surly. Perhaps it was because their house was so despised, or maybe they were surly well before they got sorted. But whatever the reason, Slytherin house seemed full of unfriendly people. At least at first glance. Regulus started to notice a trend among the majority of Slytherin house, though it had only been one day since he became a part of it. While they tended to be cruel towards outsiders, they were surprisingly kind. Well, some of them were at least. The Prefects, for example, had stayed awake past curfew to help a first year girl who was so terrified of the dark she couldn't sleep. Regulus had been half asleep, trying to lose himself in the land of dreams when he had heard crying. Groggily he silently headed towards the sound, down the stairs to the Common Room. There he had seen this slip of a girl crying, sitting on one of the sofas while the Prefects consoled her.

Honestly, Regulus had expected all Slytherins to be terrible and cruel like his parents were. But that site alone was enough to make him realize just how wrong he was. He started to think that maybe the traits of the house were not what made up each individual within it. Just like he and Sirius were not carbon copies of their parents. But the way the Slytherins acted towards the other houses, and even each other, was enough to keep the stereotype in place. It was all too easy to judge the whole of a house based on the actions of a few of its members. Many Slytherins seemed to take on the persona of the cruel, standoffish persona that kept just about everyone at bay. It was like they wanted to shield themselves from others. Of course, some of the Slytherins actually fit the stereotype, but they were incredibly few compared to the number of students sorted into Slytherin over the course of the past seven years. Most of the Slytherins were decent people who put on a mask to fit in with others like themselves, in a house where their classmates saw nothing but the enemy. Regulus frowned at the thought, realizing he would now have to be friends with only Slytherins because non Slytherins seemed to avoid all of Slytherin house like the plague. But this was for the best. He had to make Sirius think he was the enemy, and he could not do that if he went around making friends with people outside of his house. Alex seemed to be the exception to the rule of masks. Unlike the other Slytherins, he was incredibly cheerful. He was so bubbly it was amazing he could remain standing on the ground! The way he wobbled back and forth on the balls of his feet had Regulus expecting him to float off toward the ceiling at any moment. He wandered from table to table, talking to people. Most of the older students ignored him, due to his house and his irritatingly bubbly personality. But some of the younger students happily chatted with him for a while, before he moved on to speak to others. By the end of breakfast he had made so many friends Regulus could not remember any of their names. But that was just the way Alex was. He was a people person and his personality was enough to make even the most biased person ignore the house he had been sorted into. The older students had brushed him off, but even they didn't seem too bothered by him. They snuck glances while he was visiting the younger students, but their glances were not hostile. This surprised Regulus even more than the discovery that Slytherins were different than they first appeared. The Slytherins had taken on a solid stance of us versus them; them meaning all the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and especially the Gryffindors. But even the older Gryffindors seemed to tolerate Alex as he mingled with the other first years. Regulus made a mental note to silently observe members of each house over the years. He wanted to know whether the other houses hid behind masks just as readily as the Slytherins did.

The first class of the day, unfortunately, was History of Magic. Regulus sat in his desk, with Alex as his table mate, and cautiously awaited the arrival of the professor. He had not heard much about Professor Binns, beyond his incredibly boring lectures. Alex continued to jabber on about nothing in particular, partially speaking to Regulus and partially chatting with the students closest to their desks. Then, quietly, a ghost drifted into the room. When he began to speak in a dull, monotone voice, Regulus realized with a hint of dread that this was Professor Binns. The class fell silent as everyone attempted to comprehend what had just happened. A ghost was teaching their class, and he was incredibly boring! After just a few short minutes, students began to fall asleep. First was a pair of Slytherin girls, near the front of the class. Next was a Slytherin, who was shortly followed by his desk mate. Before long, only Regulus remained awake aside from a few Ravenclaws who drifted in and out of consciousness as Professor Binns spoke. They managed to awaken long enough to jot down a name or a date of something or someone important before the monotone voice sent them back into the world of slumber. Next to him, Alex was snoring softly as he used his textbook for a pillow. Regulus found himself drifting off as the professor started speaking about the Goblin Rebellions, imagining what the world must have been like at the time. His imagination took him to a world where goblins and wizards fought in an epic battle! Spells flew past him as he walked the battlefield. Man and goblin alike fell, dodged, and fought. The entire area was in chaos! Just as it looked like the battle was nearing an end, Regulus woke with a start to find the class had finally been dismissed. The whole classroom jolted awake at once and, groggily, stood up to move on to their next class. Luckily Potions was up next, and should at least be interesting enough to keep the class awake. Once more, Regulus teamed up with Alex and claimed a desk together. Professor Slughorn walked in, greeted everyone, and began the lesson on a fairly simple potion; The Antidote to Common Poisons. For this one the class would pair off and work together, since it was their first Potions lesson. Alex and Regulus teamed up and set to work. Alex grabbed a Bezoar and the Standard Ingredient, while Regulus grabbed the Unicorn Horns and the Mistletoe Berries. Regulus then crushed the Bezoar with the mortar and pestle while Alex began measuring out the Standard Ingredient. Regulus added four measures of the crushed Bezoar, then Alex added the two measures of the Standard Ingredient he had prepared. After placing it on the heat, waving his wand, and leaving it to brew for forty minutes, Regulus turned his attention to the Unicorn Horns. Grabbing a pinch, he added it to the cauldron while Alex grabbed the stirrer. Alex stirred the mixture twice, clockwise, as Regulus grabbed the Mistletoe Berries. Dropping in two berries, he watched as Alex stirred the mixture twice, counter clockwise. Regulus waved his wand to complete the potion, and Alex poured the mixture into a phial. As Alex took the phial up to Professor Slughorn, Regulus took a moment to think about the subject. Potions class was incredibly straight forward and simple to understand. Regulus liked this. Since they had completed the potion correctly in the first try, Regulus and Alex spent the rest of the class period just chatting and enjoying each other's company.